Redbirds Close Out First Half of Valley Season at Bradley

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Feb. 1, 2014

NORMAL, Ill. - After dropping a pair of home games, the Illinois State women's basketball team looks to build off its wins during the last road swing as it travels to in-state rival Loyola Friday at 7:05 p.m., before taking on Bradley Sunday at noon. The Friday game at Loyola can be seen on Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

After trailing by as many as 12 points in the second half to Missouri State Sunday, Illinois State and senior Chloe Nelson fought back to take a three-point lead late in the contest. MSU outscored ISU 8-2 down the stretch, however, to secure a 75-72 victory. Nelson led all players with 25 points, one shy of her career-high. Octavia Crump (17), Lindsay Smith (12) and Katy Winge (10) each also scored in double figures for the Redbirds, while Crump led all players with nine rebounds.

Illinois State leads the all-time series with Loyola, 5-0. Illinois State leads the all-time series with Bradley, 45-18, since 1984.

ILLINOIS STATE-LOYOLA SERIES
Illinois State leads the all-time series with Loyola, 5-0. The two teams have not met since the 2007-08 season, when ISU defeated the Ramblers, 82-51, at Redbird Arena. The first game of the series was played on March 2, 1978. The two teams faced off for four-straight seasons from 2004 through the 2008 season. ISU holds a 2-0 advantage of games played in Chicago.

ILLINOIS STATE-BRADLEY SERIES
Illinois State leads the all-time series with Bradley, 45-18, since 1984. The two teams have met at least twice each year since
1984. While Bradley has never won more than two-consecutive games over ISU, the Redbirds have five winning streaks of at least four games. Bradley snapped a 15-game winning streak by Illinois State on March 7 that dated back to 2006, with 11 of those wins coming by double-digits. Last season, the Redbirds and the Braves met twice with the most recent meeting coming in the conference tournament, when ISU defeated BU, 59-48. Illinois State has the advantage of games played at Peoria, 19-11.

DOUBLE FIGURES
Through seven Missouri Valley Conference games, four Redbirds are averaging double figures. Chloe Nelson leads ISU with 16.7 points per game during Valley contests, while Octavia Crump is connecting for 12.0 points per game. Lindsay Smith is averaging 10.4 points per game, while Alexis Foley is close behind with 10.0 points per game. During the non-conference season, only Nelson averaged double figures.

GETTING A GROOVE
Transfer Lindsay Smith tied a career-high 14 points against Wichita State (Jan. 25), as she netted 12 points in the first half. She was
4-of-6 from the field and was 4-of-5 from three-point range, connecting on 80 percent of her shot attempts. One of Smith's made threes was a half-court shot at the buzzer to end the first half, pulling ISU within four points of WSU. The four-made three pointers and five three-point field goal attempts set career-highs for Smith.

SECOND-HALF SURGE
Chloe Nelson recorded back-to-back double digit scoring efforts, as she led the Illinois State women's basketball team in both games over the weekend with nearly all of her points coming in the second half. Against Wichita State (Jan. 25), Nelson led ISU with
19 points, connecting on 50 percent of her shot attempts from the field. In the second half, Nelson scored 15 points, including 13 of ISU's last 15 points, but her effort wasn't enough, as ISU fell to WSU. Then, against Missouri State (Jan. 27), Nelson just missed a career-high by one point, scoring 25 points in the loss with 18 points coming in the second half. Through two games, Nelson scored 44 points with 33 of those points coming in the second 20 minutes of play.

TIL THE END
ISU's fourth-conference loss came down to the last shot against Missouri State (Jan. 27), but despite a late effort, the Lady Bears won the game by three points, 75-72. MSU had its largest lead of the game, 12 points, at the 15:35 mark of the second half, but
Illinois State led by Chloe Nelson's 18 second-half points battled back and regained the lead at the 3:14 mark. Missouri State took
the lead back with under a minute to play, and a last second shot by Lindsay Smith didn't fall, giving MSU the win in a game that saw four tied scores and nine lead changes.

AT THE LINE
In ISU's 75-72 loss against Missouri State (Jan. 27), Chloe Nelson sank 11-of-14 at the charity stripe in the game, setting career-highs in both categories. The last time a Redbird player connected on 10 or more free throw attempts was over three years ago on Jan. 16, 2011, when Shala Jackson found the bottom of the net on 11 free throws against Wichita State.

TURNOVER CITY
Though the Redbirds turned the ball over 22 times against Missouri State (Jan. 27), the second-most miscues this season by ISU, the Lady Bears committed 24 turnovers, which ISU turned into 31 points. The 31 points off of opponents' miscues are the most for the Redbirds this season.

OFFENSIVE MOMENTUM
ISU played the entire non-conference season without having four players record double-digit scoring performances, and through seven
conference games, the Redbirds have had four or more players in double figures three times, including Monday's game against Missouri State (Jan. 27). Chloe Nelson just missed a career-high 26 points, sinking 25 points in the contest with 18 coming in the second half. Octavia Crump netted 17 points, while Lindsay Smith added 12 followed by Katy Winge with 10 points. As a team, ISU shot 48 percent from the field, tying the second-best field goal percentage by the Redbirds this season.

A LATE EFFORT
At the half of Illinois State's game against Wichita State (Jan. 25), the Redbirds trailed the Shockers by four points, 27-23, but WSU shot 59 percent in the second half and scored 47 points to take the 74-58 victory. In the second half, Chloe Nelson scored 15 points, as she led the team with 19 points. Nelson scored 13 of ISU's last 15 points, but her effort wasn't enough. Stekara Hall also had a strong second-half performance, scoring 14 points during the second 20 minutes of play. Hall connected on nine-straight points for ISU during the second half.

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